Mortality Radio # 30: Ed Stark interview available...

[Lord Rasputin]

i so agree. i'd love to find some d8's numbered 1-4,1-4. that'd be a d4 you could really roll.

One of my GMs has such monsters. He saw a pair at a con, bought them ... and no one has ever seen another one since.

I loathe the caltrops. I'd pay $$$ for the 8-sided d4s. Especially if I can find an oversized one.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I think it ought to be a mistake, too. It makes little sense to give Rangers one but not the other. I hope that's one of the things that is changed, because the image of a ranger freezing his... err, butt... off on top of a frozen mountain range is not quite the image of "wilderness survivor" I'm pretty sure they wanted.

Huh.

It has bothered me for ages... it means that clerics, druids, wizards, sorcerers and even paladins are better at surviving in deserts or the arctic than rangers!

n.b. the ranger only needs an 11 wisdom to qualify for his 1st level spells if he doesn't mind waiting a little bit longer...

 

[2WS-Steve]

One of my GMs has such monsters. He saw a pair at a con, bought them ... and no one has ever seen another one since.

I loathe the caltrops. I'd pay $$$ for the 8-sided d4s. Especially if I can find an oversized one.

Don't do it! They're dangerous I tell you...

Theory and Practice

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'd still use those d8s rather than d4s but I think I'm OT here.

 

[seankreynolds]

OT: Awesome disgusting barf picture

Sorry to hijack the thread, but wasn't there an early post in this thread or a similar thread where a poster said, "Originally, thoughts of the 3.5E D&D made me feel like this:" and included a disgusting picture of some guy tossing his cookies. Anyone know where it went? I'm having a conversation about Gwar with someone and need to give them an example of what their show is like....

 

[Malin Genie]

You hit the ´-button before you hit the a. Producing á!

`a 'a ^a 'a (holding it down this time) `a (ditto)

Maybe the French keyboards are different.

Sigh.

 

[Steverooo]

The skills to take are in the class skills of the ranger: Wilderness lore, spot, listen, hide, and move silently - all of which a ranger can get now, and will be able to hone them up even more in the revision.

And the Ranger gets NO class abilities - what about the Spells?

The first isn't the point, and the second is a misquote. What I said was: "You have no class abilities to help either." - referring to Scouting and Survivalism - and it's true, too. The Ranger has no special abilities relating to either. I gave him Scouting and Survivalist Special Abilities at first and (IIRC) fifth or sixth level, and additional abilities from 1rst - 10th, then a choice of Ranger-Only ones from 11th - 20th, which include almost no combat options except for ones related to Favoured Enemies, if it was taken as a Feat. (Yes, I made FE a General Feat).

Looking at the Ranger's first level spells, I see none that help with Scouting, either, so as far as the above quote is concerned, spells don't help there, either. 2nd level spells likewise. 3rd level he gets Tree Shape. 4th level, he gets several useful (but won't see them until the high teens, IF single-classed - post-twentieth level, if multiclassed).

So, spells can help with Scouting and Survivability, but at eighth level, the Scouting is certainly not there, nor is much in the way of survivability... Rangers also get Tracking and Favored Enemies, too. I'm not sure if Tracking aids in Scouting (I won't argue if you think it does), or Survivability (might help find game?). Depending upon the FE, Favoured Enemies might help in Scouting and Survivability (FE: Animals, for instance), but a bonus of +1/+2 isn't all that much.

So, again, I say give the Ranger a better choice of paths, give him some Special Class Abilities (either through Special, Ranger-Only Bonus Feats or through Special Class Abilities) that aid him in Scouting and Survivability. We Know the first isn't being done; we don't know about the second...

The 3.5e Ranger is an improvement over the 3e (and 2e) versions. It will not be enough of one, however.

 

[kenjura]

I've been here far too long not to say something.


I've been working on an alternate system, rather comparable to d20 modern, but for standard d&d fantasy settings. Here's a few ideas relevant to the discussion that I'd like opinions on.

Standard ranger abilities:
Favored terrain - gain 1/2 level as a bonus to various skills (different skill list, but essential Wilderness Lore, Spot, Move Silently, etc) in your favored terrain. Yes, that's a serious bonus.

Favored prey - gain 1/4 level bonus to hit and damage versus one type of creature. Very similar to favored enemy, but a more serious mechanic.

Partial spellcasters - like the standard ranger, they get a modicum of spellcasting ability.


Every class gets the exact same number of bonus feats. Despite what you'd expect, this actually works. There's a whole lot of background information you'd need to judge the system as a whole, but I'm just presenting the core concepts applied.

Other concepts:

"Haste" works as in 3.5e (at least the way I thought 3.5e was supposed to work, with either an extra attack or an extra move action). An 8th-level spell "Alacrity" does what the old haste did. It also has a rather nasty material component (the imbiber swallows a flask of quicksilver, which has a poisonous effect) to stave off possible overuse.

Magic Missile remains unchanged (yay!). A 5th-level spell, Force Missiles, deals 1d6+1 per 2 levels (max 7d6+6) with a ranged touch. There are more like this.

The Bard gained skill points, greatly increased bardic music abilities, and lost spellcasting altogether. I try to encourage multiclassing in my system, and I never liked how bards are forced to cast as sorcerers. Take mostly bard and some sorcerer or wizard and you'll be just fine.

Certain classes, such as the Paladin, Cleric (gasp, the cleric! there's another class that maintains the old style), and Druid were altered significantly.


The point of this system is not to change the definition of any d&d class archetypes, but rather enhance them. The Bard is a SERIOUS bard, the wizard a SERIOUS wizard (of course, he didn't need any help from 3e core), et cetera.

Oh yeah, and a 100% overhauled skills and feats list.


What can I say? I like to stir up trouble.

Anyhow, I'll be popping ideas around for a while to see how awful they are.

-Kenjura

 

[Green Knight]

Re: OT: Awesome disgusting barf picture

Sorry to hijack the thread, but wasn't there an early post in this thread or a similar thread where a poster said, "Originally, thoughts of the 3.5E D&D made me feel like this:" and included a disgusting picture of some guy tossing his cookies. Anyone know where it went? I'm having a conversation about Gwar with someone and need to give them an example of what their show is like....

You mean THIS pic, Sean?

And it was in my thread about the new D&D miniature line, my opinion of it when I first heard about it. Namely that it was to be random, pre-painted plastic minis (Though I've since changed my mind about the line, which is akin to picking all that puke up off the floor and stuffing it back up my nostrils and my mouth. What I get for jumping to conclusions).

 

[Steverooo]

Standard ranger abilities:
Favored terrain - gain 1/2 level as a bonus to various skills (different skill list, but essential Wilderness Lore, Spot, Move Silently, etc) in your favored terrain. Yes, that's a serious bonus.

Favored prey - gain 1/4 level bonus to hit and damage versus one type of creature. Very similar to favored enemy, but a more serious mechanic.

Partial spellcasters - like the standard ranger, they get a modicum of spellcasting ability.

I have never seen "Favored Terrain" as a good idea, but I guess it depends upon what you do with it.

Favored Prey/Enem(y/ies) isn't my favorite idea, either.

Spellcasting, IMHO, has to be kept as an option, but should also be tradable for something else, for those who don't see their Rangers as Spellslingers.